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The End of Christendom

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this little book was compiled from lectures given at the University of Waterloo in 1978. I read it shortly thereafter. It has profoundly shaped my perspective on the role of the church in society. we are leaven, a sacrament of the coming kingdom of God, not architects of a new theocracy.

This is Muggeridge at his best. A profound intellect, he considers faith in a post modern era

End of Christendom is a lecture about the end of Christianity as a structure to the government, social institutions, and the social peer pressure that make up Western Society and thought. A different thought, One's perspective, one's train of thought will come from elsewhere. The words modern and postmodern are apt to to discussion, but are not used in this book nor does the author go into the philosophy of relativeness. These may well be contributors to what he perceives but are not part of this work. The God as described in scripture no longer has a hold on society as primary source of the public forum.

His word Christendom is to be thought distinct from the word Christianity. To say the end of Christendom is not to say the same thing as the end belief or the end of Faith. To the contrarian outward hostility to particular ideas which includes religious belief and world views can result in more profound internal faith that comes in expression by the individuals in society. The author goes into detail how this happen in the communist state(who in his early life he spent some time). this is not a prediction of massive decline in society of personal belief but the public square.

The authors perception, construct where Christian faith is different from mine. To describe Christianity as a mind set to be Christ like, with some mysticism. He takes the Bible serious, but does not quote from it. He uses broad generalizations about scripture. Muggeridge argues God reveals himself in parables. These revelations appeal to the imagination more then the mind. His theology would not be found at conservative theological seminaries- at least as expressed in this work. It is more reliant on literary works and Christian philosophy not to be found in a school of theology or religious department but a department of philosophy. Literary in the sense it is reflection certain Christian fiction. Writers quoted and used are Dostoyevsky, Pascal, Tolstoy and John Bunyan. Nietzsche is used as an example of a major influence on society as a major factor in the destruction of Christendom.